NVRC Fall Blood Drive A Success

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Written by Martin Mazur Martin Mazur

Thanks to everyone who came out last week for the NVRC Fall Blood Drive. With your generosity, we collected 19 units, surpassing our goal of 18! Donors enjoyed Pizza Mia pizza, peanut blossom cookies by Meira, movies and great conversation. Anyone who donated will be eligible to give again in early November. Be sure to put our Winter Blood Drive, set for Thursday, Jan. 19, on your calendar. Plan now to make your next donation with the NVRC!
 
Yes, there were winners *beyond* the presenting blood donors, volunteers, and those whose lives may be saved by those donations. Drawing prize winners are:
 
Elizabeth Hay – Run for Shelter 5K entry
Sarah Clements – NV Half Marathon entry
John Hook – mOUnTaiNBACK fleece
Jake Clements – mOUnTaiNBACK mug
Matthew Baran – Webster’s gift card
 
When can you give? As often as every 56 days:  If you didn’t donate on 9/8, you can donate any day this fall up to Thanksgiving Day and be eligible to donate at the Jan. 19 NVRC drive. If you donated a regular unit on 9/8, you can give again between Nov. 3-24 and be eligible at the NVRC drive.

Participants Needed For Miles for Smiles Fundraiser

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Written by Marty Klanchar Marty Klanchar

Penn State’s Club Cross Country team has invited us to participate in their second annual “Miles for Smiles” fundraiser, benefiting Penn State’s THON. You might recall seeing a video of last year’s finish on the Runner’s World web site. It certainly looked like a lot of fun for a great cause.

The Miles for Smiles fundraiser involves a 46 hour continuous run on a treadmill, with multiple runners taking turns to complete the 46 hour time period. PSU Club Cross Country has offered the NVRC one hour to run and help with the fundraising. The event will be held in a downtown apartment building, starting Jan 29 at 6pm, and ending Jan 31 at 4pm. Note that this is the same time frame as THON (although a few weeks earlier). We have some flexibility as to when we “run” our hour.

NVRC would like to have 3 runners participate, each running 20 minutes, to fill up our hour. We would also like the runners to solicit funds for their run, either by a flat donation, or via a pledged amount per mile. We suggest a NVRC goal of $500, with each runner soliciting pledges totaling $150-$200. All of the money raised goes to THON.

For those not interested in running, but want to support NVRC runners during our time slot, the 46-hour event will feature a different theme and alternative activities each hour. Some of these hour-long events will include yoga, friendly competitions, movies, and many more while somebody is running. It would be great to have a nice group of members present to show our support.

If you are interested in running (and fundraising), or just want to watch and cheer, or donate to the event, please contact Marty Klanchar, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 814-360-9477. Also indicate when you are available to run during the 46 hour period. If we get more than 3 NVRC members wanting to run, we will have a random drawing to see who will fill the slots.

Shoe Donations

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Written by Dave DeGroote Dave DeGroote

The Nittany Valley Running Club collects used running shoes to donate to the More Foundation.  Some local races will have a collection box... check the email discussion group for updates, or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you'd like to drop them off any time. 

Shoes should be "gently used" - shoes you've retired because you have "too many miles" on them are fine, even if the tread is worn.  Those you've been using to garden and cut the grass with for a year, or done a few mud runs in, maybe not.  Here's what the foundation says: "Please send only gently used athletic shoes (running and soccer) in adult sizes 6 – 12.  Please do Not send dress shoes, single shoes, or damaged shoes - heavily stained or with holes/rips."

Here's some more info from the foundation:

We are asking for used athletic shoes to fight poverty, hunger, and global warming

This is accomplished by educating small farmers in the use of the MORE Farming System. This is the entire focus of MORE Foundation Group, a Not-for-profit Foundation registered in Delaware. We are 100% funded from the sale of ‘gently used athletic shoes’. Of the one billion pair of shoes placed in landfills each year we only need a few hundred thousand of those to reach a tipping point. Villagers seek opportunities to prosper, conserve natural habitat and regenerate regions that have been severely damaged. The highly qualified management of MORE Foundation in developing countries teaches small farmers and villages how to create Modular Organic Regenerative Environment’s (MORE).

With each 600 pair of shoes the adopted family will receive 12 months of hands-on MORE training. After MORE training is complete the family receives the tools, seeds, trees, and livestock to increase productivity as much as 1000%. MORE Foundation teaches the integrated MORE Farming System as well as small farm business management, rainforest resource conservation, capacity analysis, marketing research, profit center modeling, tribal community development, microfinance lending. As well as training in Co-op set up; how to form a village credit union with self-capitalized expansion. We also provide free medical assistance for the families protecting them from Malaria and other infectious diseases.

Musser Gap Trail Is Complete To Tussey Ridge

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Written by Marty Mazur Marty Mazur

I led a group run up the Musser Gap trail on October 10. I had advertised the run as one that might entail some bushwhacking, particularly if we wanted to get all the way up to Tussey Ridge, the high ridge just south of the gapped ridge that Musser Run flows out of. The last time I ran to Tussey Ridge from Musser Gap, back in December, I’d made a nearly vertical assent because of almost non-existent trail marking. That was some tough, and treacherous, climbing, so if the group consensus was against that kind of adventure, we’d have just run in the sun along the power line cut in the saddle between the ridges.

But when we got to the log footbridge across Musser Run a mile up from the Rothrock parking lot on Rte 45, I noticed a brand new DCNR trail sign that wasn’t there even a couple of months ago. As we progressed through the gap, more new signs. And when we got to the power line cut, there was a new sign for a trail to Tussey Ridge. We decided to take the adventure. The trail to the ridge is, like most trails on the higher ground in Rothrock, pretty rocky. But it’s a trail, with enough switchbacks to greatly reduce the risk of teetering back and going ass-over-teakettle down the mountainside. The trail is pretty obvious in most places, and well blazed where it’s not. Getting to the ridgetop is strenuous, but not dangerous. The total climb from the lowest point on the run (the bridge across Slab Cabin Run on the greenway path near Rte. 45) to the top of Tussey Ridge is just under 1000 feet over 2 miles.

Read more: Musser Gap Trail Is Complete To Tussey Ridge

2016 Marathoners For Medicine Team Still Needs Runners!

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Written by Jaimie Wright Jaimie Wright

Are you training for a marathon, half-marathon, or trail race this Spring? Be part of the Centre Volunteers in Medicine (CVIM) Marathoners for Medicine Challenge Team and use your love of running to make a difference to our neighbors without health insurance get affordable medical and dental care.

Centre Volunteers in Medicine is a local community health resource center that provides medical care, dental care, case management, and medication assistance to our local neighboring residents without health insurance. They depend on donations, and any amount that you raise by being part of the team goes directly to CVIM.

Whether or not you can join a team this year, please consider giving to this year's CVIM Marathoners For Medicine team. Here's a link to the donations page. Pick a runner, or give in the name of the whole team!

Please also save the date for our Media Day: April 14 at 12 PM at the Horace Ashenfelter III Multi-Sport Facility. And join our Facebook group to keep in touch with the rest of the team.

Please contact Jaimie Wright or Tara Murray for more information at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

NVRC Supports 2015 United Way Day of Caring

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Written by Marty Mazur Marty Mazur

For the fifth year in a row, Cheree Jones and Sheryl Balkey helped to organize a crew of bushwhackers for the United Way Day of Caring,. The project was again the golf course perimeter bikepath/jogging path, this time along the south and west edges of the Penn State Blue Golf Course. There were saplings, bushes, brush, assorted shrubs, and unruly tree branches that were clogging and cluttering the path, as well as an ungainly tree blocking the view of runners, bikers, and drivers approaching the path's crossing of the Clubhouse Road.

The volunteers were:  SF & Company (12 volunteers), Joe Hughes--Penn State Golf Courses PGA General Manager/Head Golf Professional, who helped tremendously with the planning and execution, and Sheryl & Seth Balkey and Cheree Jones. The crew cleared the way so that runners have a clear treadway and golfers can see runners so they can yell "fore!". The NVRC chipped in to pay for some food and refreshment. Here are a few pictures.

Many hands make light work of shrubs, brush, and trees!

Read more: NVRC Supports 2015 United Way Day of Caring